Lots of photos and stuff for various star wars games, from Imperial Assault, to the Wizards of the Coast game to Fantasy Flight Games X-Wing Miniatures Game. AT-AT's, AT-ST's, Shuttles, 3D maps, all sorts of stuff!

Monday, November 5, 2012

For fun, click on the first image for slide-show mode, and use your mouse wheel to scroll through the images. I put the camera on a tri-pod so it always takes from the same spot, making it like a little movie as the minis zoom around the table taking their turns :)
- - - - - - - - - - -

Okay, this is a LONG post. It is a partial battle report, as I try out a single player solitaire method for playing skirmishes with Fantasy Flight Games' Star Wars: X-Wing Miniatures Game.

There's no fluff or flavour text, it's just telling you what I do each turn, what rolls I make on my tables, and how I respond to those rolls.

Here's the basic Tie Fighter Tactics Tables that I came up with so far for solitaire play, being X-Wings vs Tie Fighters.:

IMPERIAL MANOEUVRES
(1)
Start of Game Tactics / Game Setup
1-2 Tie flies down middle of map.
3-4 Tie flies down left side of map to Flank enemy position.
5-6 Tie flies down right side of map to Flank enemy position.

(2)
While playing, if Rebel is aprox 2 measure sticks away, or the Tie has flown past their position down the map. Also, Night Beast always rolls ACTION first, before Manoeuvre, in case he is required to do a Green Action this turn.

If rebel is in front of you, or you have flown past their position down the map:
1-2 Move to intercept them in your forward arc.
3-4 Move to attack from their sides.
5-6 Move to attack from their rear.

If rebel is behind you:
1 Thrust away from them
2 Soft turn to the side
3 Hard turn to the side
4 180 spin, long
5 180 spin, long
6 180 spin, medium

If Stressed, roll on 'rebel is in front of you' and select a green action.

IMPERIAL ACTIONS
You only need to perform focus/evade actions, if a rebel is within 3 range brackets from your Tie. Otherwise, there's no need to roll as you can't get shot at.

Barrel Rolls: a Barrel Roll is only carried out if the player thinks it is a more favourable action for the pilot on that turn, if rolled. Barrel Rolls can also be manually selected (you can ignore the tables) to do things such as avoiding other ships or asteroids.

My thoughts were that the more skilled an Imperial pilot is, the more 'attack' they will be, and thus, less actions spent on evading, and more actions spent on focusing. Anyway, by giving each pilot different things, it adds some variation to the table.

The idea is that you as the 'player' get to control the rebel forces. You assign all manoeuvres to them before anything else takes place.

You then roll on the tables to work out what each of the Tie pilots is going to do. The tables give you a tactic (such as move to intercept them in your forward arc), it is then up to you to select a move for them to make, that will help you to carry out that tactic on that turn.

In combat, everyone who is able to fire at someone, will fire at whoever they look like they have the best chance of hitting.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

THE BATTLEFIELD

I'm using my Hubble space photo mat to play battles on. I've put a planet overlay in the middle, representing that the battle is in high orbit over the planet. I've put a scattered line of asteroids diagonally across the planet and around it, representing asteroid debris orbiting the planet. I've also put an overlay of a Corellian Corvette to represent a critically damaged Corvette, that is trying to repair its hyperspace drive.

The Tie's are part of a large Imperial force that is sweeping through the star system, searching for the crippled Corvette. Luke is the only available X-Wing to defend it while the Corvette makes repairs. If he can destroy two Tie Fighters that have located the Corvette, he'll give the Corvette enough time to finish repairs. Then the Corvette can escape the system. If Luke gets taken out by the Tie Fighters, they'll be able to easily pick off the Corvette and completely disable it, ready for the incoming Star Destroyers.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

TURN ONE

After some rolls, I determine the initial position and tactics of the TIE fighters. Obsidian Pilot is going to flank move down the right side of the table. Night Beast is going to charge down the middle of the table.

Luke is going to make a soft turn to the left, to skirt through the asteroid belt.

The TIE's are way more than 2 measuring sticks away from Luke, and they are still ahead of him on the table, so they just move ahead full speed.

Turn 1 Starting Positions: (left is top end of table, right is bottom end of the table)

Turn 1 Obsidian Moves (movement templates in photos to show movement)

Turn 1 Night Beast Moves

Turn 1 Luke Moves

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

TURN TWO

Both Ties are ahead of Luke on the map, so they continue moving along their paths. Luke continues turning, planning to pass between some of the asteroids in a following Turn.

Turn 2 Obsidian moves

Turn 2 Night Beast moves

Turn 2 Luke Moves

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

TURN THREE

Remember, though Luke's movement takes place last, I have to decide BEFORE I roll for any TIE actions, what Luke is going to do on this turn.

Luke needs to make a right hand turn, so he won't be heading toward the end of the map, and so he won't run into any asteroids. He's going to make a hard turn to the right, to fly between the asteroids.

Obsidian pilot is still way more than 2 measure sticks away, and is still ahead of Luke's position down the board, so he keeps moving forward in his flanking tactic.

Night Beast is now around 2 measuring sticks away from Luke, so he can start doing stuff. He rolls against 'rebel is in front of you' for a manoeuvre, and rolls a 2: move to intercept enemy in your front firing arc. He makes a soft right hand turn, arcing toward Luke's position.

Turn 3 Obsidian moves

Turn 3 Night Beast moves

Turn 3 Luke moves
At this stage, I made a mistake. For Luke's moves, I've just been glancing at the movement chart on the back of the rulebook to decide what he will do, and I mistakingly picked a Tie Fighter move : hard 1 right hand turn. Luke can only do Hard 2 right hand turn (which probably would have overlapped the asteroid) but I didn't notice the error until right now.

TURN 3 Actions
Luke Target Locks onto Night Beast. The TIE's were both outside of range 3 on their movement phases, so they didn't do any actions.

TURN 3 COMBAT

Night Beast now has Luke in his forward arc at Range 3! Luke rolls 2 evades, and suffers no damage.

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

TURN FOUR

Luke plans to do a hard right turn, thinking to attack Night Beast head on.

Okay, time to roll on some tables this turn.

Obsidian Pilot is too far away from Luke, but has now passed Luke position down the board, so he can roll on the 'Rebel Is Behind You' to see what he will do. He rolls a 3: hard turn to side. Since Luke is to his right, Obsidian Pilot hard turns to the right.

Night Beast rolls Actions first. He rolls a 5: and must do a Green Manoeuvre this turn, but gets his bonus Focus and chooses to Evade as well. He then rolls for a manoeuvre this turn. He rolls agaist 'rebel in front of him' and gets a 2 - move to intercept rebel in forward firing arc. He makes a soft turn to the right, heading for Luke's position.

Turn 4 Obsidian Moves

Turn 4 Night Beast Moves

Turn 4 Luke Moves

TURN FOUR COMBAT
Luke and Night Beast end up moving head to head, into base contact, and unable to fire as they will fly pass each other!

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

TURN FIVE

No matter what move Luke makes, there will be a TIE in either direction. He decides to focus on Night Beast, as he has a Target Lock on him, and Night Beast is the tougher opponent of the two Ties. He plans to do a 180 spin to face behind Night Beast.

Obisidan Pilot has Luke 'in front of him' so he rolls on that table, for a 2: move to intercept enemy in forward firing arc. He curves soft to the right, to avoid asteroids, and he rolls on the action table to Focus this turn.

Night Beast makes Action rolls first, in case of Green Manoeuvres. He rolls a 3 - this turn he will just Focus, and he will make standard Manoeuvres. Luke will be somewhere behind him this turn, so Night Beast rolls on the 'enemy behind you' table. He rolls 1 - thrust hard away from enemy, but I don't want him to be heading off of the table, so I decide to re-roll. He gets a 3, soft turn to side. If he turns left, he'd head into an asteroid, so I turn him to the right.

Turn 5 Obsidian Moves

Turn 5 Night Beast Moves

Turn 5 Luke Moves (180 spin turn)

TURN 5 COMBAT
After the moves were played out, Obsidian has ended up on Luke's tail! Obsidian fires to hit, but Luke rolls 2 evades!

- - - - - - - - - - - - -

TURN SIX

Luke decides to ignore Obsidian, and focus on Night Beast, hoping to try and stay on Night Beast's tail. He plans to do a soft turn to the right at full speed. He focuses this turn.

Obsidian has a rebel in front of him. He rolls a 5 - attack from enemy's rear. Luckily, he's already there. Luke is unlikely to turn and collide with an asteroid, and Obsidian doesn't want to turn left and collide with an asteroid either, so I pick for him to make a short move forwards past the asteroid, hoping to keep Luke in his firing arc. He rolls on the action table to Focus this turn.

Night Beast rolls Actions first. He rolls a 6 - green manoeuvre with free focus, plus an evade action. I choose for the green manoeuvre to be a soft right turn, so he doesn't go off the table.

Obsidian's move is cut short, by base contact with Luke.

Turn 6 Obsidian Moves

Turn 6 Night Beast Moves

Turn 6 Luke Moves

TURN 6 COMBAT

Luke Fires!

It's 3 vs 3 on the dice. Night Beast's special action grants him a free focus, and he is also Evading this turn. Luke makes 3 hits!!! Night Beast rolls 1 evade, plus his free evade, so he takes 1 damage to his Hull.

Obsidian Fires!

It's 2 vs 2 on the dice. Luke only rolls 1 evade, but the Obsidian pilot rolls a hit and a CRITICAL! Luckily though, Luke's X-Wing has shields, so he ends up taking no damage, but his Shields and reduced to 1 point now.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
SUMMARY

Okay, so it works pretty well. I pick what I want the rebels to do this turn. Then I roll on the tables to see what tactic the TIE's will perform, then I interpret the tactic to decide what actual manoeuvre they will do, based on their position and what is around them on the table. If a tactic would place them in danger (such as putting them off of the table) then I give myself permission to re-roll, or simply to decide on the most logical action from their position.

Combat works as normal.

Solitaire seems to work great! Now I need to think about how I might implement Equipment Upgrades / Special Ability Upgrades into the mix as well. I think though, I would be happy to just decide on the fly whether an Imperial would use an Upgrade card or not. Basically, if it would give them a good advantage from their current position and situation, then they would use it.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Hi world! I'm back, after a long break having been doing other mini game things. This time, instead of the Wizards of the Coast miniatures game, I am now loving the Fantasy Flight Games: X-Wing Miniatures Game - courtesy of a birthday present from my family :)

If you don't know anything about the X-Wing Miniatures Game, there's three things you need to know about it.

1) It is Star Wars !!!

2) It is in Space !!!

3) It is fantastic fun !!!

Here's some pics of my stuff so far!

I'm not sure how I'd describe all the details, but there's heaps of reviews about the net, and if you go to the Fantasy Flight Games website, look in their Miniatures Section, and look in the Support section for X-Wing Miniatures Game, they've got four quicktime movies, that give you an idea of what it's all about. I really recommend the videos, they're very flashy and fancy, with sound effects and dramatic voice over, and I've watched them a fair few times just because I think they're really neat.

Then I set about making a battle mat - I found a massive image from the Hubble Telescope of a starry red nebula, sized it for my table top, and printed it out. I used a free program off the net called PostRazor, which takes a large image, then cuts it up to fit on A4 pages (or other sizes) and makes a PDF file. You then print out the PDF, cut the images out of each page, and sticky tape them together to make your whole image! I laminated them too, to make them water proof, but on the dark image of space, reflections seem to show up a lot, so it's hard to take good photos of unless you angle the camera just right :)

The Corellian Corvette is a community add-on found on Board Game Geek site. I used PosteRazor on it's images to assemble the ship overlay, then you can just place it on your star map and do things like having waves of tie fighters trying to disable it, while x-wings help defend the ship. On Board Game Geek, there are cards for different components for the Corvette, such as turbolasers and shield generators, etc, for the Tie Fighters to try and knock out.

The Planet overlay was an image I found in a Google image search, that I resized, and cut out, for a planet in the background to add interest to the table. I'm also planning to use it for the Senator mission, where an unarmed Shuttle must fly across the board, defended by an X-Wing, while endless Tie Fighters attack. I'm going to make the planet the Shuttle's victory location goal (if it gets there, it wins the game).